Suction pick-up head



Nov. 14, 1961 w. H. RIVES SUCTION PICK-UP HEAD Filed Aug. 8, 1958INVENTOR W/LL/AM H. RI VES BY MM M ATTORNEY United States atent PatentedNov. 14, 1961 flies 3,008,748 SUCTION PICK-UP HEAD William H. Rives,Columbia, S.C., assignor to Universal Business Machines, Inc., Columbia,S.C., a corporation of South Carolina Filed Aug. 8, 1958, Ser. No.753,943 6 Claims. (Cl. 294-64) This invention relates to a device forpicking up documents, one at a time, from the top of a stack ofdocuments. The term documents as used herein refers to sheet-likematerial or articles generally, such'as checks, vouchers, receipts,paper money, and the like.

While not limited to such use, this invention is especially useful indocument-sorting machines of the type disclosed in United States LettersPatent No. 2,668,706 issued to LeRoy J. Benson, and a specificapplication of the invention to a sorting machine of this type isdisclosed in the mpending application of Swartz et al. Ser. No. 686,745,filed September 27, 1957 and entitled, Suction-Head Document Feeder.

An object of the invention is to devise a pick-up head involving asuction nozzle for lifting the uppermost document from a stack undersuction action.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pickup head of thesuction type which not only lifts the document from the top of the stackbut flips it up under suction action to aid in separating it from thenext lower document.

A specific embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of the entire pick-up head ordevice;

FIGURE 2 is a bottom view of the pick-up head shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIGURE 1 taken on line 4-4; and

FIGURES 4 and 5 are fragmentary views of the lower part of FIGURE 3showing different stages of operation of the pick-up head.

Referring to the drawing the suction head is formed of a suction tube 1extending substantially horizontally and a nozzle section whichcomprises a head member 8 which may preferably, but not necessarily, bemade of a solid block of material having .a horizontal bore 8a formed ina vertical side wall for receiving the suction tube 1. Bore 8a stopsshort of the opposite wall of the head 8, but it extends beyond avertical bore 8b formed in the bottom wall of the head. Suction tube 1is closed at its inner end by a disc 1a, and a screw 4 passing throughthe end wall of bore 8a is threaded into the disc 1a to secure the tube1 to the head. A short tube 2 extends into the vertical bore 8b and hasa tight fit therein. Tube 1 has a notch or opening 112 formed in theside wall thereof adjacent the closed end 1a and in a position tocommunicate with the upper end of tube 2 mounted in bore 8b. Tube 1 maybe turned about its axis to diflerent positions and thereby vary theeffective size of the coupling between tube 1 and tube 2 through opening1b.

Mounted for slidable movement on the tube 2 is an outer sleeve member 3of generally cylindrical shape having a smooth, polished bottom face 3alying in a plane which is at an angle of approximately 15 to thehorizontal when the axis of tube =2 is identical. The front face ofsleeve 3 is cut away or flattened at right angles to the bottom face 3aas shown at 3b, leaving a thin bottom edge portion on the sleeve at thefront thereof. The sleeve member 3 has a sliding fit on the tube 2 withsubstantially very little play. To prevent the outer sleeve member 3from sliding olf the tube and to maintain its bottom end in apredetermined position with respect to the bottom of the tube 2, a pin 6is anchored in the sleeve 3 and extends vertically through an openingextending through the head 8 at one side of the bore 8b. A stop member6a carried on the end of the pin extending through the head 8, keeps thesleeve 3 at the proper height on the tube 2 and allows the sleeve tomove upwardly until it abuts the bottom face of the head. If so desired,a spring 7 may be placed on pin 6 between sleeve 3 and head 8 to biasthe sleeve to its lowermost position. This position is such that thelower rim of tube 2 lies wholly within the sleeve 3 and the shortestvertical distance between the rims of tube 2 and sleeve 3 isapproximately inch.

In operation, the suction tube 1 with the pick-up head mounted thereonis supported in a suitable mechanism, such as that illustrated in theabove-mentioned copending application 686,745, for movement of the headfrom a pick-up position, to remove the topmost sheet from a stack ofdocuments, to a discharge position where the document is discharged at apoint spaced from the stack. In the pickup position of the head, thesmooth bottom face 3a of the sleeve 3 lies just above and parallel tothe upper-most sheet 9 of a stack of documents as in FIGURE 4. As avacuum is created in the passageways leading from pipe 1 to the sleeve,the sheet 9 will be drawn upwardly and held against the end of thesleeve and, on maintenance of the vacuum, the sheet 9 will move thesleeve 3 upwardly against its light weight and against the bias ofspring 7 if used, until the sheet abuts on edge 2a of the tube 2 asshown in FIGURE 5. Since the suction creating the vacuum stillcontinues, the sheet will continue to move the sleeve 3 up the tube, butfurther upward movement of sheet 9 is restrained by edge portion 2a oftube 2. This movement takes place rapidly, causing the sheet to flip upsuddenly against the tube portion 2a, thus disposing this part of thesheet at an angle to the remaining part thereof and causing it toseparate from the underlying sheet as shown in FIGURE 5. As shown inFIG. 5, during the upward movement of sleeve 3, a portion of the sheetis held against the end of tube 2 and a portion is held against thebottom face 3a of sleeve 3, which being at an angle to the end of tube 2causes buckling of the sheet at the point 9a, thereby insuringseparation of sheet 9 from the other sheets. The entire head assemblycan then be moved to transfer the sheet to the discharge position wherethe suction will be cut-oif or reduced and the sheet 9 is discharged bythe dropping of sleeve 3.

The arrangement for mounting the head 8 upon tube l'including theprovision of screw 4 permits adjustment of the angle of the head 8 aboutthe axis of the tube 1, and it also permits adjustment of the tube 1about its axis, with respect to the head 8, to vary the effective sizeof the coupling opening 1b in the tube 1.

What I claim is:

1. A suction pick-up head for thin sheet-like material comprising ahollow tubular member for connection to a vacuum pump at one end andterminating at its free end a single plane, a sleeve having a boretherethrough slidably mounted on the tubular member and having its outerend, corresponding to the free end of the tubular member, terminating ina single plane at an angle to said first mentioned plane for firstcontacting a sheet upon operation of the vacuum pump.

2. A suction pick-up head in accordance with claim 1 includingcooperating means on the tubular member and sleeve for limiting themovement of the sleeve otf the free end of the tubular member to form anextension thereof with the outer end of the sleeve a slight distancebeyond the free end of the tubular member.

3. A suction pick-up head in accordance with claim 2, further includingresilient means for biasing said sleeve to said limiting position.

4. A suction pick-up head for the topmost sheets of a stack comprising ahollow tubular member, a sleeve member having a bore therethroughslidably mounted on the tubular member, one end of thetubular memberterminating in a plane, a corresponding end of the sleeve terminating ina smooth surface lying in a single plane at an angle to the first plane,means on said members for limiting relative slidable movement of thesleeve off the one end of the tubular member to permit the sleeve toextend a slight distance beyond the one end, means supporting theassembly, and means connecting one of said members to a suction source.

5. A pick-up head for the topmost sheet on a stack of sheets comprisinga hollow tubular member arranged in a generally vertical direction andterminating at lower end in a given plane, a hollow sleeve membermounted for sliding movement about the lower end portion of said tubularmember and terminating at its lower end in a smooth surface surroundingthe tubular member and in a plane at an angle to the said given plane,cooperating means on the sleeve and tubular members to limit downwardmovement of the sleeve to a position such that its lower end is spaceddownwardly of the 25 lower end of the tubular member by a slight amount,and means for connectingthe opposite end of said tubular member to asuction source.

6. A suction pick-up head comprising a block of rigid material having asubstantially L-shaped bore formed therein, a first hollow tubularmember closed at its inner end extending into one branch of the bore andhaving an opening in its side wall, a second hollow tubular memberextending into the other branch of the bore and terminating at its freeend in a single plane, a sleeve having a bore therethrough slidablymounted on the second tubular member and having its outer end,corresponding to the free end of the tubular member, terminating in asingle plane at an angle to said first mentioned plane for firstcontacting a sheet upon operation of the vacuum pump, means on saidblock for adjustably securing the first tubular member to position itsopening in desired angular relation to the second branch of the bore tovary the efl'ective size of the coupling between the first and secondtubular members, the free end of the first tubular member being adaptedto be connected to a suction source.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS939,948 Chesney Nov. 9, 1909 1,457,775 Henderson June 5, 1923 1,585,368Blaine May 18, 1926 2,850,27 9 Stoothoff et a1 Sept. 2, 1958

